


Technopath

by selfmanic



Series: Avengers Kink Prompts [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Team Bonding, Telepathy, mechanical telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-25
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2017-12-27 14:49:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/selfmanic/pseuds/selfmanic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Avengers Kink Prompt:</p><p>I would love to see a story where Tony is a technopath and this is part of why he is so good at what he does. However, no one else knows because when Tony was younger and told his father about what he could do Howard thought he was lying and punished him. So now Tony won't talk about it because he doesn't want everyone to think he is a liar.<br/>*Bonus points if the team finds out because Tony uses his ability in front of them to get them out of a bad situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Technology

Tony listened with half an ear to Dummy as he babbled like a hyperactive five year old about his day completely ignoring the fact that Tony had been there for most of it. He adjusted the next sensor on the suit and had Jarvis start running a systems check. Unlike Dummy, Jarvis sounded much the same as he did in real life, a steady murmur of polite processing as he went through his daily tasks. The other various systems around the tower each had their own voice and mannerisms that Tony had long ago learned to work with or around as needed.

Pepper had once referred to his bots as his children and in many ways they were. He worked to keep them learning, challenging their programming and code to out perform what was expected of them. He wanted the best for his friends and tried to help them continue to improve.

She had also called him something of a hoarder but how could you just throw away a piece of technology when it talked to you? You couldn’t. He still had every computer he had ever owned. At first he had tried upgrading his machines with new chips and systems but eventually a major overhaul was needed and it was impossible to guarantee that the machine’s personality would continue unchanged. He let each machine decide for themselves on an upgrade because of this risk. He finally had networked as many of his old machines as possible to serve as a closed system storage unit so that they wouldn’t be alone when he didn’t have the time to talk to each and every gadget in the basement storage. He had Jarvis give him weekly updates on the network and tried to take a few days each month to do the basic maintenance tasks that they needed.

Tony had been talking to machines since he was a child. He had tried to explain it to his Father once but it only resulted in a beating for telling lies. He had kept his ability to himself ever since. It did help massively in his work however since often the systems themselves would tell him when something needed maintenance or repair. His computer would chortle along with him as they hacked into another system following the whispers of “I have a secret.” or following the snarling growls of viruses as he worked to get them out of his friends.

Rhodey was the main one who had issues with how Tony treated his technology. He had no patience for a coffee machine that you had to stroke before it would make you the world’s best cup of coffee or the door scanners that mysteriously stopped working when Tony was in need of quiet, barring entry to his lab. Pepper just assumed that he had added personality to all of his gadgets and treated them accordingly, which endeared her to quite a few machines around the house.

 


	2. Avengers Tower

Now that he was living with the rest of the Avengers Tony was surprised at how each person reacted to the technology in his house. Some of it was predictable, some not so much. Steve and surprisingly Bruce were baffled that so many of his appliances and machines had quirks they had to learn to work around. There had already been one explosion in Bruce’s lab and two fires in the kitchen thanks to Steve’s attempts to make toast. Natasha simply memorized how Tony and Pepper handled each machine and copied their actions to varying results, from the glares she gave the coffee machine he was waiting for her to start issuing death threats when her next latte was changed to oolong tea without her input.

Clint was the only one his machine friends seemed to actually like. Clint loved to cook apparently and took to talking to his appliances much as he would Jarvis while he was in the kitchen, explaining each dish and what he was hoping to make as an end result. Clint also spent a lot of his sleepless nights talking to Jarvis chatting in between shots on the range or sitting looking down at the streets below in his rooms.

He arranged a parameter with Jarvis he could walk to make sure everything was secure in the building each night he was in the tower. Clint had lived outside of the law too long to ever really trust an alarm system completely, even an intelligent one. Since it meant that the Tony and the other Avengers were safer while the archer was present, Jarvis happily assisted the archer in tightening up his security protocols so that people trained like Clint and Natasha wouldn’t be able to break in easily.

Tony spent a lot of nights up late tinkering while he calmed down his frantic tech the first few weeks. Even enlisting Jarvis to help sooth all the mutinous technology at being handled negligently or simply not as Tony would did not help much. Jarvis was much more used to dealing with people than the other bots and appliances and he helped sooth some of the misunderstandings but having your friends destroyed was painful for everyone.

Most of the tech refused to work for Thor at all after he crushed two remotes and fried his alarm clock during a mild thunderstorm. It took Tony removing most of the more vulnerable pieces from the common area and Thor’s floors before everything started to calm back down. Hearing the death keens of beings you spoke to every day and things you felt the happiness of as you handled them was not a good way to spend the day.

For someone supposedly with Allspeak, Thor was not able to hear machines the way Tony did, he had asked on the slow walk back to the tower after shawarma. Apparently Thor could speak with squirrels, pigeons, and other animals just not machines, even smart ones like Jarvis or Dummy. It made Tony’s head hurt since Allspeak was supposed to translate every known language and wasn’t code, language?

Tony pressed a finger against the metal casing for the arch reactor, letting the deep throbbing thrum drown out the chatter of the other systems around him. It was an old trick for him. His first computerized watch had been his main source of background noise he focused on when in college so that he would not be listening into everyone’s cell phones, projectors, and calculators.

As he got older his range increased and if he concentrated he could communicate with just about anything that was running with some kind of processor and power source. It meant there was a constant background noise of technology chattering away at each other and at him as he moved around.

While computers where his first love, cars would always run a close second. While computers were like faithful dogs, always happy to help and complete a task, cars just wanted to move. He got a reputation for driving fast and loose thanks to mainly learning how to drive from the sports cars themselves. He tried to not talk to the planes he traveled on, even Iron Man was vulnerable outside of the suit.

He used his playboy drunk image often to cover for the small slips of tongue that sometimes happened when he was holding a conversation with several machines and a live person at the same time. It lead to a lot of arguments with Pepper since he tended to question her StarkPad for her schedule and any issues she had that day when he had the opportunity.

He learned a lot of gossip and blackmail material at parties for the rich and famous. Afterall, no one looked twice at a known drunk that was talking to a wall. He would interrogate their systems and use what he discovered to keep Stark Industries at the top of their game. He drew the line at stealing ideas but knowing about an upcoming invention before it hit the news was always a bonus.

It drove Shield crazy the way their technology just seemed to bend over backward for him. Doors that should have needed key cards and fingerprint access opened at a touch for him but what Shield missed was the polite conversation with the door hardware and the lock itself asking if they minded letting him in. They assumed that he was using jamming technology or Jarvis to hack their system while it really was simple as having a short conversation with a wall.


	3. Ch. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***Not entirely happy with this chapter. Next chapter will have more excitement, coming soon ;-) ***

 

Tony gave a happy hum as the suit finished folding around him. The soft soothing murmur of Jarvis’ processes filled the back of his mind as each system booted up. Most of the time Tony prefered to rely on the instrumentation and not the mumbled cadence of voices at the back of his head when he was using the suit but occasionally the tech would register something faster than the warning could be displayed and than his ability saved the lives of those around him or even his own life. Today was turning into one of those days.

They were fighting what amounted to dog sized robotic dragonflies mounted with lasers that were attacking seemingly random buildings in Manhattan. Hulk was sitting this one out until they could prove that the damage he might incur in helping would outweigh what the robotic bugs were doing. The worst part was how damn fast and maneuverable the things were. Clint was taking out what he could as they passed his position while trying to cover for Steve and Natasha who were on the ground helping get people off the streets and out of the buildings being attacked. Thor and Tony were airborne taking out the bugs that were clustered together attacking different parts of the buildings.

“Anybody seeing where the hell these things are coming from? I swear for every two I take out, five more are showing up.”

“I agree with the Hawk, there seems to be no end in sight of these infernal machines.”

“Hey, no dissing the machines. They can’t help the crazy dude who gave them their orders.” Tony snapped, his head full of the buzzing of the dragonfly that he had snagged midair.

“Iron Man? What exactly are you doing?” Hawkeye asked, watching the suit hover in one place to one side of the action.  
“Interfacing.” Tony ground out, most of his attention on the chatter from the bots around him. “Shut up for a minute and let me work. Jarvis, drive for a minute while I get this thing to talk.”

“Of course, sir.”

It was never easy trying to communicate with a strange system for the first time and whoever had programmed these things must have been on LSD at the time because nothing they did or said made sense. The bugs screamed and screeched at each other, a constant cacophony of sound crashing against each other, a low hum of command language beneath pushing them to attack specific structures. A soft “I have a secret.” giggled in the background as Tony tried to separate out an individual voice from the mass chaos within the machine.

“Secret, what’s your secret? Such a smart machine surely knows something wonderful.”

“Great secret, biggest secret. Master’s secret.” It chirped back, clearly preening at the praise.

“And you must be his favorite to know such a thing. He must be very proud of you.” More and more of the voices were going silent, listening to him, giggling softly in response to each bit of praise and flattery.

“Best secret.” Several childish voice agreed, laughter ringing in the background. “Master likes to see things go boom. Such a big boom for him!” Suddenly everything clicked into place making Tony’s breath catch.

“Jarvis, scan for explosives. On the bugs and on the buildings.” Tony resolutely ignored the mutters from the Agent overseeing the team, he doubted their tech was capable of scanning such a large area.

“Scanning, sir.” Jarvis said, the com falling silent as everyone waited for the results, seconds later he chimed in with the results. “I detect over 500 individual explosive devices that have been left all over the surrounding buildings not including the ones still carries in each machine.”

“Fuck, guys, these things are rigged to blow and they have already left bombs on every building they landed on. We need everyone out of there now!” Tony opened his mouth to ask Jarvis to start trying to hack into the detonation frequency when the machines began a countdown, the child like voices gleefully chanting out the countdown from ten.

“Ten seconds! Move your asses!” The gleeful chorus continued to chant as he activated his burners streaking down toward the streets.

“Eight.”

“Seven.”

“Hawkeye, please tell me you have a way down.” Steve said glancing up as Natasha and he guided the last of the occupants out of the building and towards the nearby subway entrance that they were using as a shelter.

“Could use a catch here, somebody.” Clint said, eying the piles of damaged and dying bugs that littered the street around his building and the roof he was fighting from. Nothing was close enough to try and using a grappling arrow and any place he could repel down to was full of partly destroyed bugs that were rigged to explode.

“On my way, bird boy. Keep your shorts on.” Tony mutter fighting to slow down enough that he would not break Clint in the pick up.

“Three.” He angled in, snatching Clint off the rooftop and angling upwards as sharply as he dared while carrying someone not wearing a suit in hopes of distancing the debris.

“Two.”

“One.”

“Boom!” The machines squealed for an instant before the interface faded away as more and more machines self destructed. Three different buildings went up in plumes of smoke and dust while all the downed dragonfly bots detonated a second later leaving smoking craters where they lay.

“Nice save, Iron Man.” Steve said over the coms with a faintly heard sigh. “Everyone else okay?”

Everyone chimed in with an affirmative even if several of them were coughing from the dust.

“What do you want to bet that we get sued for the damaged again?” Clint asked, with a slightly wheezing cough.

“You alright there, Barton? I didn’t mess up your ribs right?”  
“Nah, I’m good. Any catch that doesn’t result in broken bones is good by me.”

“Might need to work on that in practice some if it’s going to be a common thing.” Tony muttered.

He was already subvocalizing notes to Jarvis about adding harnesses to everyone’s suits or at least hooks to the Iron Man suit and maybe reinforced sections he could grab on to for the team’s uniforms. He brought Clint in to land as gently as he could with one repulsor out of use since he was holding on to Clint with that hand. He added another note about stabilizers and compensating for the added weight without increasing speed as Clint jumped the last few feet allowing him to touch down normally after a slight bobble.

The debrief afterwards was just painful. Why exactly did they had to try and rehash every bit of action while they were exhausted and injured again? Tony worked on schematics while the rest of the team chanted through their recitations of the battle. He watched Sitwell get more and more agitated as the meeting went on before he finally snapped.

 

“Care to share with the class, Iron Man? Or is your time to valuable for us mere mortals?”

“You couldn’t afford ten minutes of my time, Sitwell.” He said with a smirk before expanding the blueprints he was working on. “We need to add a way for me to carry passengers or to rescue one of the team without reworking my entire propulsion system. I was thinking some kind of harness that could be incorporated into everyone’s uniform, maybe clipping to the back of the suit. What if I had been attacked while trying to carry, Clint? I would have been a sitting duck.”

“Add in a way for one of the team to pick me up without bruising my ribs or strangling me with my uniform and I’ll cook dinner for you for a month.” Clint said, his gaze piercing and completely serious. “Done.” Tony said with a grin. It was a sweet offer, the man had some serious skills in the kitchen.


	4. Ch. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***One more chapter to go. ***

                Tony eyed the base below him with a sigh. Bruce had left for a conference on Particle Physics three days ago and then never checked into his hotel. Shield had discretely sent a tail along for the trip but Bruce had popped up and handed him a coffee ten minutes into the train ride, an hour later Bruce was off Shield’s radar and the agent was scheduled for remedial training. Clint merely laughed when the news came in and offered to track the rogue physicist down but they’d agreed that Bruce deserved some time off the leash and left it alone; looks like they should have been more diligent.

                One of the projects Tony and Bruce had been working on discretely was setting up a satellite system that could track gamma radiation. They were doing it mostly since it would enable them to track the Hulk at long distance if he did decide to take out a town but they could also fine tune it to track other sources like the staff Loki had used. Tony finished the programming after a two day bender and they had Bruce’s location down to a one mile radius. At least it wasn’t Hydra he thought with a sigh, eying the lines of weaponry and missile launchers that covered the roof; the place was loaded for bear and way to alert for three in the morning.

“Natasha and I could get in but we’d be fighting our way out with a heavily drugged Bruce probably.” Clint offered as they pored over Tony’s scans of the building.

“They’ve planned for a frontal assault. What if we gave it to them?” Tony offered, fiddling with a tablet.

“They’re expecting us to rush in to save him, generally that means it’s the last thing you do unless you want to die, Stark.” Steve pointed out rubbing at his forehead.

“What if we use it against them? Half of us go at the front while the rest go in the back and get Bruce out?”

“We’d be taking heavy fire and bombarding the building, we could be injuring our own team members.” Steve pointed out with a frown.

“Go a better idea? The only other thing I see is to take a week and get the spy twins in undercover to wake up the Hulk.”

“We might not have a week.” Clint pointed out softly, “Chatter on the net is that someone is offering to sell Hulk blood and body parts to the highest bidder. So far no one’s bought anything that Shield can see but they are definitely interested.”

“This place is locked to a fare-the-well; it would take time to break in. Time we might not have.” Natasha pointed out. “How long can the half the team hold out against those weapons?”

“I’d give it an hour at the most if we manage to knock out the rocket launchers and they don’t have any other nasty surprises.” Steve said with a sigh while Thor considered the layout with a frown.

“So the issue is the computer system and door locks?” Tony asked mind already going in five directions trying to figure out how to do this without exposing his abilities.

“Yeah, if we don’t have the right codes or programs to hack the locks we could be spotted or set off the alarms.” Clint said glancing at Tony suspiciously, “Why?”

“What if I can cut that down?”

“New tech you haven’t bothered to share?” Natasha asked raising an eyebrow.

“Kind of,” Tony said with a frown, “the suit’s basically a super computer hooked into an AI. It could hack the doors in seconds.”

“We need you helping with the frontal attack if we do this.” Steve pointed out, “With the artillery they have we’ll need every heavy hitter at the front door. Can you set up a small computer or something for them to use?”

“No, you need the suit at the front door. I’ll have Jarvis pilot while I go with the wonder twins and hack the doors for them. I can pull together a light weight version of the armor that’s mostly computer to let me hack the systems.”

“We could get in and out faster with another set of hands,” Clint said slowly, “but it might mean we set off the alarms faster if we get caught. More people means more exposure and Tony’s not trained like we are.”

“Why do you need to be there? Can’t we give them the computer to use?”

“We could but they’re not exactly hackers, no offense.” Tony said glancing up from the broken down suit he was outlining on his tablet, he would need weapons and basic protection but had to have his hands mobile to work in case he actually needed to hack something.

“None taken,” Clint said with a snort, “I doubt either of us is anywhere close to his level, Steve. He’d probably be able to do each door in less than ten seconds, it would cut the entry time down to less than ten minutes if we don’t run into any major road blocks; Ten minutes or less in and about that to get back out, less if we go at speed not caring about the alarms.”

“It depends on what condition Bruce is in when we get there.” Natasha pointed out.

“So I carry Green Bean while you two take out anyone who gets in the way.” Tony said with a shrug.

“How long would it take you to modify the armor you need?”

“A few hours, I have most of it already set up.” Tony said pulling up a projection of his working model so they could see what he was thinking.

“Jarvis will be okay piloting?” Clint asked fiddling with a pen.

“Yeah, I don’t generally like having the suits without a human at the controls but in this case I think we can trust it if he limits the firepower to taking out the launchers and leaves the human attackers to you guys.”

“Alright, let us know as soon as you’re done.” Steve said with a nod, “We’ll finish up here and get the rest of the gear ready to go.”

                Six hours later they landed outside of the compound and separated. Thor, Steve, and Jarvis would be hitting the front of the building any minute now while Clint, Natasha, and Tony quietly made their way in by an out of the way door in the back of the main building. The spy twins did their ninja thing and took out the two guards watching the door before gesturing Tony forward.

Tony had to admit the mocked up glove that was supposed to be interfacing with the locks looked impressive, when pressed to a door it lit up and cycled through several random indicators and lights like the system was processing a massive amount of information. The actual interface was all in his head, the systems were actually very polite, they didn’t like how the scientists and guards handled them without regard for their condition or safety and were more than willing to loop video feeds and unlock every door along the way.

The only door to argue with him was the final one barring them from Bruce. That one had heard how dangerous the “Beast” was and refused to open. The floors were starting to tremble with the assault on the base as the fighting got nastier.

 _Bruce is a friend; he’s not dangerous to us._ – Tony wheedled trying to block out the nervous shifting of the assassins next to him.

 _Beast, danger, contain_. – The door continued to chant ignoring his attempts to argue.

“I’ve got a guard coming down this hallway in two minutes, Stark.” Natasha said voice sharp.

“Working on it;” Tony gritted out closing his eyes and throwing himself at the system hard.

                He almost never forced a system to do what he wanted. He’d talk it in circles until it finally caved or sweet talk until they did what he needed but it hurt to force a computer to change its programing. He distantly heard Clint cursing under his breath as the machine squealed and whined as he pushed until the locks thunked open. Wiping at the blood trickling from his nose he pulled the door open far enough for them to duck through.

                Natasha was already unhooking Bruce from the restraints and IVs when Clint surged down the hall and took out the incoming guards with three quick blows, dragging the unconscious or dead bodies into the room with them. The locks were still moaning as Tony shut the door and nudged it to lock back, engaging its alarms once again. Natasha and Tony supported Bruce between them as they quickly made their way out.

                The steady shockwaves of the base being pummeled had lab coated minions scurrying past them in the last few halls but no one tried to stop them as they ducked out the back door and made their way to the waiting jet. Natasha radioed that they were out and Thor and Jarvis took out the rest of the base in a few minutes while they worked to get Bruce comfortable in the small medical bay.

“What happened to your nose, Tony?” Steve asked as he came in to check on their newly recovered scientist.

“Nothing, a nose bleed;” Tony said shrugging it off, Clint watched his deflection with sharp eyes clearly not believing the response.

“It happened when you were forcing the last lock, right?” Clint said from his perch to one side, eyes darting over each of the team as they moved about.

“Yeah,” Tony said with another shrug, pulling off the light armor and starting to fiddle with one of the panels. Clint made a small hum of acknowledgement and went back to whatever changes he was cataloging.

                Tony wasn’t sure the archer would leave it alone. Natasha was glancing between the two so she knew something was up but seemed willing to let Clint decide if she needed to know. She leaned forward to pat Bruce on the arm and hand him his glasses when he blurrily started to sit up.

“Alright there, Green Bean?” Tony asked, his hands still adjusting settings with a pair of probes as he kept half his mind on the armor, Jarvis, and the constant low thrum of the technology around him.

“Hey, I’m out?” Bruce asked thickly, glancing around at the team and the bandages wrapping his wrists.

“Yep, the team attacked the base and we got you out.” Steve said from near the wall.

“Oh, good;” Bruce slurred with a shaky nod before lowing himself back to the stretcher mattress and passing out as Thor chuckled softly at the inebriated man.

                They got Bruce back to the tower three days later when he was declared detoxed from the drugs the kidnappers had been pumping into him. Tony was tempted to throw a party for his safe return but knew the shy man would hate it so instead they had a team dinner with all his favorite take out. The only thing remaining from his capture were some nasty nightmares and a few quickly fading bruises. They flew out to a remote testing area to let the Hulk expend some energy a few days later and Bruce was soon back to him normal self.

                Tony was upside down in the engine of one of his cars several days later when Clint finally dropped out of the vents to one side. Jarvis alerted him as soon as the vent opened but he kept his eyes focused on his work waiting to see what the archer would do. It turned out nothing, an hour later when he went to get a bottle of water from the small fridge in the shop the man was still crouched to one side playing catch with Dummy.

“Need something, Barton?” Tony asked in between gulps of water.

“Kind of, I have a question and I’m hoping it won’t insult you.” Clint said shifting slightly so his legs were dangling off the table.

“Trust me, I’ve probably been asked worse over the years.” Tony said with a snort, moving to the sink to start getting cleaned up.

“It really bothers you when one of your machines dies, doesn’t it?” Clint asked his eyes flickering over the shop mapping some checklist of changes or tells that only he knew.

“They’re my creations.” Tony says with what he hoped was a careless shrug, “Pepper calls Dummy and You my kids and they kind of are.”

“Yeah, but you don’t like battling robots or how easily Thor fries everything electronic around him.”

“It means more work every time that happens.” Tony pointed out with a wench he started wiping down, “I’ve retrofitted half the tower with high capacity circuit breakers and put EMP resistant wiring on his floor.”

“To protect your machines, your friends;”

“To protect the tower from constantly losing power;” Tony said with a snort, “I do run a business occasionally from this space as well.”

“No one can figure out how you gave everything a personality in the tower but I’m starting to think you didn’t. Sure you coded Jarvis so that he was able to learn and interact better but I think the personality was always there. You just bring it out.”

“What are you saying, Clint?” Tony said softly, watching the archer play with his bot.

“You talk to them.” Clint said softly, fiddling with something from the junk covering the table before holding it out for Dummy to take, “You talk to them somehow and you can hear them. You hear Jarvis before he says something out loud and you notice Dummy heading for the firehose before you see it or get an alert on your workstation.” Tony stood watching him frozen with a ratchet and a rag hanging limp from his hands.

“My main question is why are you hiding? I mean, I get not wanting to broadcast an ability to the rest of the world, but why not tell the team? If nothing else it will get everyone handling your tech with more caution.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Bird Brain.” Tony said flatly forcing himself to move, to finish cleaning up. Dummy moved away from Clint and to his charging station at Tony’s silent command.

“You really don’t think the rest of us haven’t been beat down for our abilities half our lives? Hell, most of my childhood I got beat up for seeing things I shouldn’t and not knowing to keep quiet about it.” Clint said with a snort, “I won’t say anything about it to the others, but you should think about telling them. They’re probably the only ones who would let you use your abilities openly without trying to exploit them somehow. We would even keep it from Shield if we had to, Tony.”

“Nothing to talk about, Bird Brain,” Tony said flatly tossing his rag into the bin so it would be washed, “There’s nothing to share.”

“Whatever, Metal head,” Clint said with a shrug as he headed out of the shop, “I’m here if you ever want to talk.”

“Don’t start, Jay.” Tony said with a sigh once the door closed behind the archer, “Seal the shop.”

“He does have a point, sir. Your team is probably the only group of individuals who would be willing to both accept and protect your abilities.” Jarvis said gently as he lowered the reinforced barriers, sealing all the doors and locking down the vent access.

“Yeah, until Fury figures it out and started trying to dissect my brain to find the implanted interface or something.”

“Do you truly believe that, sir?”

“I don’t know anymore, Jarvis. Sometimes I want to tell them just so they’ll understand to be gentle with the coffee maker and other days I could see Bruce running tests for months trying to figure out what makes me tick.”

“Dr. Banner hasn’t done anything similar with the other Avengers, sir.”

“But he does it to himself, Jay. Half of Bruce’s experiments are ways to control the Hulk or to lower the gamma radiation in his system. He’s not trying to learn how to merge the Hulk with himself or how to handle the changes; he’s trying to remove something he sees as a flaw.”

“I believe Dr. Banner simply wishes to have more control over the Hulk. He sees all the way that his alter ego is able to kill and destroy and merely wishes to prevent such damage. I do not believe he would take the same measures with your own abilities.”

“Fury would go even more paperless if he ever found out.” Tony said with a snort, “The only reason he hasn’t tried to kidnap me into a lab already is because I’m too much a public figure.”

“I doubt that would be the case, sir.”

“Maybe I could have told Agent but with him out of the picture Fury only seems to want to take the nuclear options. It’s like he was the only one holding Fury back from the Bazooka approach Fury seems to favor, for a spy he’s not really fond of the quiet approach.”

“Agent Barton seems to be of the same mind as Agent Coulson was. They did work together for many years, sir.”

”Yeah, he was really down when he first moved in and Natasha said he was grieving for Agent so we all left him alone until he came out on his own. He looked rough for a while.”

“What would you like me to do, sir?”

“Pull up everything you can about Hawkeye. Let’s see just how much Shield knows about the archer.”

“Would you like me to do the same for the rest of the team?”

“Yeah, why not; let’s pull everything they have, anything attached to the Avengers Initiative. Track it down, Jay.”

“Yes, sir.”


	5. Chapter 5

Tony made his way inside at speed dodging the few lab coated scientists who were running through the halls as they tried to escape before the building went up. Natasha and Steve were working on the bomb while Hawkeye and Thor kept watch outside making sure the idiots were rounded up by the waiting Shield agents. Tony was to try and hack the main computer system and stop the launch of dozens of long range rockets carrying bioterrorism agents.

He reached the computer and started typing letting his hands move while his mind reached out to the machine hoping he would be able to get through. The targeting computers were humming to themselves as they clicked through the next step of the launch. Tony started trying to get their attention but they were ignoring him, too busy with their own tasks to notice the voice nudging at them.

“The bombs have been disarmed.” Steve reported, blowing out a relieved breathe. “How are the rockets coming, Ironman?”

“Working on it,” Tony bit out, fingers flying.

                His viruses were barely slowing the count down; he’d need to do something soon. He could lock the missile apertures but that would just have them blowing up the base while people were still inside and releasing the biological weapons into the air here. He needed another option and there wasn’t anything popping up.

“Clint,” Tony said flipping over to a private channel as he franticly typed.

“What’s going on, Tony?” Clint asked once he’d clicked over to the private channel.

“I never force a machine to do something, I ask. If I force them to do something it hurts both of us.” Tony said his fingers still flying on the keyboard unleashing viruses and entering commands that the system was ignoring.

“And you’re going to have to force this one, like you forced the door when we were getting Bruce.” Clint said softly understanding where Tony was going.

“Yeah, but this is going to be worse.” Tony said swallowing, “A lot worse.”

“Can Jarvis fly you out once you finish or do you need me to come get you?”

“Jarvis can fly me out but I’m not going to be up to much for a few days.”

“I’ll make sure the team leaves you alone.”

“Alright,” Tony said with a nod he knew the other man couldn’t see, “Thanks.” He clicked back to the open channel, “I’ve got three minutes on the clock, clear out the rest of the base in case this doesn’t work.”

“On it,” Clint said clearly, ignoring the protests of the other team members.

“Is there a problem, Ironman?” Steve asked.

“Yep, this is either going to work or the entire base is going to be flooded with virus laden gas while the missiles blow. Get everyone back.”

“Tony,”

“I’m sorry, sir. Master Stark has turned off his radio.” Jarvis said across the line making Steve curse even as he started helping with the evacuation.

“Get everyone out and back, we have two minutes.” Steve snapped, grabbing up his gear and running along behind Natasha as they pushed the last few scientists into the closest chopper.

                They all pulled on a gas mask but there was a chance even that wouldn’t work as they pushed for altitude. Below them Tony was lost in code and the humming machines. He closed the apertures and started pushing the commands he knew the machines would rebel against. No machine wanted to not complete the job it was created for.

                He gasped for air as the pressure built. The machines screamed and moaned in his mind as he forced each command through. He could feel blood sliding down his face and tried to distance himself from the pain stabbing through his head and bones. One by one the missiles disarmed and the computer connected to it powered down. He felt the last one click off as the darkness swallowed his vision leaving his body limp inside the armor.

                Jarvis double checked that the machines were inactive before he activated the suit and started the short flight out of the base. Almost as soon as he exited the radio started chattering at him. He ignored it for a moment making sure his creator’s vitals were stable before laying in a flight plan for home.

“Stark, damn it, answer me!” Steve snapped over the line as the Ironman armor hovered above the base.

“I am sorry, Captain Rogers. Sir is unable to respond at this time.” Jarvis said, “The base has been disarmed and is ready for Shield to start dismantling the missiles.”

 “Is Tony okay?”

“I’m afraid my programming will not allow me to respond, I have orders to take Sir back to Avengers Tower.”

“Alright, we will see him there.” Steve said frowning as he watched the suit launch itself away from them at high speed.

“Clint, do you know what’s going on?” Natasha asked once he’d clicked back to their private channel.

“It’s not my secret to tell, Nat.”

“Is Stark okay?”

“I don’t know but I intend to find out as soon as we get back.” Clint said, watching as the helicopters and troop movers started to land so that they could finish sorting out the enemy base.

“Let me know if you need me to run interference.”

“Think you can scramble me a faster ride home?” He asked already starting to stow his gear as he zip tied the last enemy scientist on his helicopter; really they should have done that before they lifted off he thought with a sigh, Coulson would have been having a fit at the lack of proper protocol.

“Give me ten minutes.”

                Clint clicked back to the team line and moved to help out where he could for the next ten minutes. He gave Rogers a shrug when he was asked to fly one of the troop jets back to base while the rest of the team finished helping with the cleanup. He’d be back in New York in four hours and if he skipped debrief to check in his team mate surely even Captain America would be okay with that.

                He jogged off the quinjet that had dropped him at the tower and tried not to think about the favors he’d had to spend to get the ride. He was fairly sure that Fury himself had allowed the flight considering they’d suddenly had clearance and no one had radioed in to question the flight plan. He glanced up at the camera as he approached noting that the entire tower was on full lock down.

“Can I check on him, Jarvis?” Clint asked as he entered the tower, the metal barrier rising to allow him in as he approached.

“Sir did not leave instructions beyond ensuring the safety of the tower while he was incapable of protecting it. He is currently asleep in the workshop.”

“Does he need anything?” Clint asked pausing in the kitchen.

“Another blanket would not be remiss.” Jarvis said after a short pause.

                Clint merely gathered up some bottles of water, apples, protein bars, and a few blankets from the backs of the couches on the common level. He took the lot into the elevator and waited as it descended to the floor with Tony’s workshop. The shielding was down here as well and Clint waited for it to retract completely before he entered his code and pushed the door open.

                At first he couldn’t spot Tony but he could see Dummy hovering to one side of the shop, swiveling to watch him approach. Tony lay sprawled on the worn couch his face still smeared with dried blood. Clint set everything down and went to find a clean wash cloth he could dampen in the sink with hot water. He went back to the couch crouching next to Tony and nudging Dummy back.

“It’s okay, Dummy. He’s going to be fine.” Clint said soothingly as he eased the man onto his back.

He wanted to wake him up and get some food and water in him but it had only been a few hours since the mission, he could let him sleep for a while longer. Clint cleaned off the blood as gently as he could, also cleaning along his neck and hands where the mess had smeared as he took off the armor. He tucked Tony under two blankets since his hands were cold and made a small pallet next to the couch so he could stretch out and keep an eye on the engineer.

“His vitals are okay, right Jarvis?”

“Yes, Agent Barton. He appears to merely be exhausted.”

“Yeah, I’ve slept for almost forty eight hours straight once after a bad mission.” Clint said with a nod setting his bow and quiver to one side where it would be in easy reach, “Can you set a reminder or something for both of us to get up and eat in twelve hours. He probably won’t want to but you need calories after a bad mission.”

“I will wake both of you in twelve hours.” Jarvis said as Clint settled on his stomach on the pallet he’d made.

“I’m not planning to sleep, Jarvis. No offense, but when someone’s out for the count after a mission, on my teams at least one member keeps watch until they’re able to protect themselves again.” He said shifting until he was comfortable in his normal prone sniper position, “It’s why we take shifts when someone’s in medical. We make enemies in the field and the best time to hit someone is when they’re at their most vulnerable.”      

“I understand, I apologize if I’ve offended in any way.”

“It’s fine, Jarvis. Just wanted to make sure you understood. If I couldn’t do it, Natasha would be here, maybe even Steve or Bruce.” Clint said letting his muscles relax as he settled into wait. “Phil normally watched for us when me or Natasha were injured.”

“Would you like to talk while you keep watch, Agent Barton? Often, Sir will converse with myself or the bots while he waits for something.”

“Only if you’re not busy, Jarvis,” Clint said with a shrug, “I know how to keep myself entertained considering how many missions I get stuck on a roof with nothing to do but people watch.”

“May I ask; how do you believe the team will react to the news of Sir’s abilities?”

“Generally, I think they’ll be fine with it. Normally, Natasha would be pissed that he hid something from her but there is a note in his Shield file about possible psychic abilities that were never verified. I think his dad had him tested at some point but I’d have to pull the records again.”

“That was not in the file I access when researching the initiative.” Jarvis said a screen coming on to one side as Jarvis reviewed the files he had access to.

“How were you pulling the files? Shield shorts it’s paperwork kind of weird.”

“Sir asked me to pull everything associated with the Avengers Initiative.”

“Yeah, that’s where you went wrong. Only the base files have everything about the person or case. Each mission file only has directly pertinent information, stuff that might cause issues with an op. Even then we go by a lot of call signs on missions; often they won’t even identify who the person is outside of a call sign in the mission file. You have to go back to their base personal file to find their list of call signs and match it up to missions.”

“I take it, Hawkeye, is not your only call sign?”

“Nope, and Natasha has way more than I do since she tends to do more sensitive missions.” Clint said with a tired grin.

“Who would have access to these files; surely they are not only hard copy?”

“Only your handler for the mission and their supervisor would have the call sign list or access to an agent’s full file.” Clint said with a shrug, “For me and Natasha that would have been Coulson and Fury most of the time. We do work for other handlers as the situation called for it but not a lot. Phil liked to keep an eye on his specialists.”

“Would you be willing to give us a list of your more well know aliases? Sir has asked that I compile as much data as possible on the members of the Initiative in hopes that we can anticipate any issues that may arise.”

“He does know what we are right? I mean, sniper isn’t the only title I can claim, Jarvis. A lot of those missions are out right hit lists or us going in to take down dirty politicians and cops. We play the parts of the bad guys to get the intel. It’s not a pretty read and that’s not including the ones that went FUBAR ten seconds in.”

“Sir has asked that the information be stored in his most secure drive, the one that also houses my own code. He has no intention of allowing anyone other myself and Sir to read the files.”

“Alright, I don’t mind but I’ll check with Natasha first. We worked on a lot of the same missions for a while.” Clint said with a nod, “We were talking about doing some security sweeps of the tower anyway, testing the alarm systems like we were going to break it, see what can be improved.”

“I would be happy to assist in any testing and would help implement any changes that would improve the tower’s safety.”

“Awesome, it depends on Nat but last time we spent a lot of time in one place we had mortars in the vents and crawl spaces between floors. Paranoia kind of is a job requirement with assassins.”

“Sir did have several items in the files that he wished to discuss with you however the mission interrupted his research. When he wakes I will remind him.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I’m sure he’s okay, Jarvis. We can talk shop as long as he likes once he’s up and moving.”

“I believe the issue is a sensitive one that may compromise your position in Shield. He put off revealing the matter until he was able to show definitive proof.”

“If it waited this long it can sit a while longer.” Clint said with a frown. “Do I need to get Natasha here for the big reveal?”

“I would have to defer that to Sir however I would hazard to say it might be prudent. It is a matter that affects both of you.”

“Alright, I’ll ask Tony after we get him to eat something.” Clint said with a nod, not voicing that the man would probably collapse back into unconsciousness as soon as he finished eating. He settled into wait, scanning the room every five minutes but keeping his eyes on Tony for the rest of the time.


	6. Ch. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *** So this kind of veered away from the original direction I was taking it but I still like where it ended up. Enjoy. ***

Tony woke up with a groan, his head pounding. The lights were already dimmed and he watched the blurred image before him for a long moment before he was able to force his hand to take the offered bottle of water. He took it and rinsed away the thick taste of blood filling his mouth.

“How long was I out?” he asked sipping the cold water to see if his stomach was going to protest.

“About ten hours,” Clint said digging out a protein bar and opening it for him. “I was going to wake you up in another two to get you to eat something.”

“Yeah, post research bender standard procedure.” Tony said taking a bit of the bar and making a face, “Works rather well for hangovers too.”

“Or post mission collapse, been there often enough myself.” Clint said with a shrug, “Drink the rest of that and I’ll order us some real food.”

“Jarvis, order us something hot and simple, nothing heavy.” Tony said stuffing the rest of the bar in his mouth as he hauled himself off the couch with a suppressed whimper and tottered to the bathroom.

                Clint watched him make his slow way out of the room but didn’t offer to help which Tony appreciated. He cleaned himself up a bit and used the facilities before shuffling back to the couch. Half the muscles in his body were protesting the abuse he’d put it under while the rest were protesting the lack of sustenance he hadn’t bothered to provide while trying to find the base.

“Ramen and fried rice for carbs and protein,” Clint offered once he was settled, “Should get here in about twenty minutes. Did you want a shower or anything?”

“Nah, I’m probably going to sleep right here after I eat. Aren’t you supposed to be on base or something?”

“Figured someone had to keep an eye out to make sure you didn’t chock on your own drool or anything.” Clint said with a shrug going back to his pallet and digging out a book. “Natasha’s keeping an eye on the rest of the team.”

“Is this a thing you two do?”

“We’re used to working on small teams;” He said with a shrug, “you keep watch when someone’s injured or not able to protect themselves, keeps the rest of the team alive long enough to become a good team.”

“So this is in-house service via assassin twins? You do know that Jarvis could have kept watch, right?”

“Jarvis is watching the rest of the house, team, and your company.” Clint said with a snort, “He’s doing enough without having to make sure you eat too.”

“So, what’s the rumor around Shield now? Are they waiting to dissect my brain next time I show up for a mission?”

“The current rumor around Shield is that you’ve integrated some mind link through surgical implants and that’s why you can hack machines so easily and without a direct interface or keyboard,” Clint said getting up to retrieve the box of food that a loading dock robot brought to the door, “but that’s been going around the watercooler for years. They also think I have bionic eyes and that Phil once killed three assassins with a tin pin and two rubber bands which is actually close to the truth, it was a stapler and coffee cup.”

“I looked through some of the mission files for you and Agent. You worked with him a long time.” Tony said moving stiffly to his desk and setting the rice to one side.

“Yeah, ten years,” Clint agreed handing Tony a packet of silverware and a tub of soup. “Jarvis mentioned that you had some research you wanted to run past me and maybe Natasha eventually.”

“I was waiting to find solid proof. I might have found that right before the mission got called out.” Tony said starting to spoon up some rice, one he started eating he realized just how starved he was one hand still fiddling with the documents Jarvis pulled up.

“Do I need to call Natasha and get her to come in?”

“No, I think we’re going to need to call the entire team in for the big reveal. We need to decide how the team is going to handle it.”

“That why you were so pissed off with Fury the last few days?”

“He’s a lying liar who lies and he made Pepper cry. If you and the Widow don’t kill him then she might.”

“Alright, I’ll call Natasha and see when they can get here.” He said pulling out his phone and moving to the other side of the room to make the call.

                Tony kept eating absently noting that Jarvis added a meeting with the team in four hours to his schedule. He spent the time getting the documents in order and loaded onto a few tablets for the ones who wanted to review things themselves. Clint settled back on his pallet and started cleaning and prepping his weapons keeping one eye on the door.

                Over the next few hours the rest of the team slowly trickled in. Natasha was the last the join them, right at the appointed time for the meeting. Thor was back off world so they at least didn’t have to wait on him. Bruce was already fiddling with a tablet while Steve waited on the couch near Clint watching him work his bow. They’d all settled back to wait when Tony said he wasn’t going to explain until everyone arrived.

“Sorry for the short notice but I found something that I think the team needs to know.” Tony said handing out the tablets.

“These are medical expense reports.” Bruce said slowly paging through the electronic document.

“Yeah, I had Jarvis tracking everything that Shield had attached to the Avenger’s Initiative and its members. Somehow a lot of what I thought was random things got added. Medical records, expense reports for surgeries that don’t appear in any of our files, I couldn’t figure out what was going on until I realized exactly what was missing. Who’s the one person attached to the project outside of Fury and Thor who isn’t here?”

“Agent Coulson,” Steve said slowly shifting forward in his seat.

“Fury said the medics called it but he never said he was dead.” Tony pointed out, leaning back and watching as the rest of the team processed that.

“When are we breaking him out?” Natasha asked, moving to lean against the couch next to Clint, who was silent, hands flexing around his bow.

“It’s been a year; do we know how he’s doing?” Bruce asked, fiddling with his tablet and glancing around the room, “If he was stabbed through the chest then that’s not something you get over quickly.”

“All of the surgeries were in the first six month, the last few months the bills are just rehab and room billing. I need to do some deeper digging to see if I can find more about the hospital and his mobility. I’ll need your help with the medical records, Bruce.”

“What do you need us to do?” Clint asked, glancing up at Natasha before turning back to face Tony.

“Right now I need you to help us plan the extraction if that’s what we’re going with.”

“You think we should leave him?” Steve snapped standing and moving to pace to one side of the room.

“I’m just listing options. Right now it looks like Shield is treating him as a patient, not a prisoner, they’re lying to us but we don’t know what he knows. For all we know he thinks his team is dead too.” Tony said holding up his hands, “We need more information and I’m going to need everyone’s help to get it because I’m thinking a lot of it’s under an alias.”

“I’ll get you a list of the aliases he used. Clint might know more, he worked with him longer.” Natasha said, Clint nodding agreement.

“You think Shield told him me and Natasha were dead?” Clint asked fiddling with something under his shirt.

“I don’t see Agent leaving his team behind without at least saying goodbye. If Fury said you were dead or lost on a mission he might believe it and let the treatment playout without fighting it.” Tony said softly trying to gauge what was going on in the archer’s head.

“Steve, we’ll need you to help plan how we’re getting in and out of the building with the assassin twins. Jarvis, pull up the blueprints for him.” Steve flexed his arms and moved with a frown to where the diagrams hovered, grateful at least to be doing something. “I think Bruce can sit this one out and help prep the tower for our arrival, can you figure out what medical equipment we might need?”

“Sure, as long as he’s up and moving it shouldn’t be much. Mostly we’ll need a physical therapist to come in and a cardiologist to check him out once we get his full records.”

“Jarvis call Pepper and ask for the list of SI doctors we have confidentiality documents on. Get it to Bruce.”

“We could always do this the easy way.” Natasha pointed out, touching Clint’s hair for a long moment before over to scan the blueprints.

“Care to share with the class?”

“We go straight in. Fury hid it from us but now that we know we have no reason to hid that fact. He’ll know as soon as Coulson leaves the hospital anyway.”

“Just walk him out the front door?”

“Why not? It’s not like the security there is going to be able to stop us.” Natasha said with a shrug, glancing at Clint who was still crouched, mind whirling.

“We get him out in the morning.” Clint said quietly setting his bow down and starting to peel out of his gear, “We need to make sure he’s able to travel first. We put Jarvis piloting the suit to harass the helicarrier when we go in as a distraction. Tony takes the suitcase suit with us; Steve gets Phil in a wheelchair and moving while Natasha distracts the guards. Bruce will have a car outside waiting, in and out fast before the alarm gets set off.”

“And I can make sure that doesn’t happen.” Tony said with a firm nod.

“Good, I’m going to clean up and order some food in. It’s probably going to be a long night.” He said, his face a mask of concentration. He left a pile of Kevlar and weapons on the couch before stalking out the lab.

“Jarvis, keep any eye on the Hawk.” Tony said quietly so that Natasha would hear the order.

“Yes, sir, I’ve taken the liberty of placing the team’s general order for Chinese. It should arrive in half an hour.”

“Good, thanks, Jay.” Tony said absently as he started working on hacking the full medical records for their missing agent.

 

***

“Why the hell is it a hospital in New Jersey?” Tony muttered as they made their way inside.

“It’s in range of the Quinjets or even by car from New York and no one would think we would house our wounded in a non-military hospital.” Clint said flatly over the com, he was working his way inside using the back entrance.

“Hello, we’re here to visit Phillip Barnes.” Natasha said at the front desk Steve at her side as the dutiful flower carrying boyfriend, they knew it would probably mean a call to the Director but at this point they didn’t care if he knew or not, by the time he reacted it would be too late.

                Tony sauntered past them to the elevators, working on the systems he passed to try and find the correct alarm system to bypass. He’d already looped the camera feeds as each of his team mates passed and was monitoring all chatter on the security lines. The room they wanted was on an upper floor which would mean more time needed to get out.

“Hey, Hawk, think you could cover the roof if we have issues?”

“Yeah, what are you thinking?”

“If we can’t get him down the elevators then heading up is still an option.”

“Got it, I’ll make sure I’m mobile just in case.”

“Good.” Tony hummed as he made his way down the hall disabling locks and other things as he went. The blueprints had shown that Phil was the only resident on the floor so it wouldn’t hurt anyone else to kill the nonessentials for a short while.

“At the first door,” Tony muttered while working on persuading the door to let him in.

“Right behind you,” Steve said easing out of the stairwell with Natasha a step behind.

 

***

                Clint watched as they got his former handler into a chair with only a bit of prompting and headed out. He watched from the roof as they loaded him into the white beat up van before heading out. He wanted to vault down the side of the building and make his way back to the tower at a run but he forced himself to move at a steady ground eating walk. He’d waited two years, another ten minutes shouldn’t matter.

                It was a long walk back to his bike that was stashed several blocks away. He just had to get to the landing pad before the rest of the team, he thought with a smirk gunning the engine and pushing the bike for more speed once he hit the highway. Ten minutes later he’d stashed the bike in the cargo bay and settled into the pilot’s seat, he didn’t trust anyone else to get Phil home right now.

                He hung back once he landed the mutated Quinjet that Tony had “Improved” with only a slight bump and started the landing checklist. Natasha ducked into the copilot’s seat and helped speed things up. She ambled next to him as they made their way to the floor none of them had been on before, an executive guest apartment that was rarely used.

“He asked for you.” She said quietly, “They told him you were dead, gave him a copy of your ring.”

                He didn’t trust himself to answer, waiting in silence as the elevator took them higher. As the doors opened and she pointed him towards the bedroom he hesitated not sure if he wanted to see how badly Phil had been hurt. Taking a deep breath he forced his legs to move, he was alive, that was all that mattered.

                Phil gave him a smile as he settled into a corner where he could watch the rest of the room. He wanted to rush over and check on the man but Bruce was already checking his vitals and helping him get comfortable in bed. Steve worked with Jarvis to order in lunch for everyone and Tony was babbling his normal nonstop reel as he stood to one side fiddling with his phone.

“Just so you know, Fury’s already tried to call each of us at least once.” Tony said with a grin, “Jarvis is blocking all calls from Shield for the next twenty four hours. If they really need us they can send someone in person.”

“He might just deserve it.” Phil said flicking a look to where Clint was standing, “Thank you everyone for the rescue.”

“We couldn’t exactly leave you there, Coulson.” Natasha said, moving to the bed and placing a kiss on one cheek. “Who would keep our Hawk grounded without you there?”

                Clint thankfully was saved from commenting by the food arriving. He helped Steve unpack everything and served Phil a plate making sure it was only the things he liked. He settled back against the wall with a glass of water but ignored the food for now, he could eat late, right now he wanted to memorize the way Phil’s too long hair fell in his eyes and the changes to his body from the weight he’d lost.

                He was too used to playing it straight for Shield to break the routine now even with Tony giving him funny looks. They’d hidden their relationship from everyone but a few close friends so that no one could say they were acting unprofessional. If it had been common knowledge Clint would have had to change handlers and teams and he couldn’t have done that and stayed sane with the job they did.

                Bruce helped Phil to the bathroom after a while, Phil protesting that he wasn’t that much of a cripple even if he was wheezing a bit when he got back to the bed. Clint tugged out his phone to start looking up how to rehab from a lung injury. He needed more information, he mused sending a text to Natasha that she vet the doctor and physical therapist, knowing her she was already on it.

                He had a bit of a limp thanks to the staff nicking several nerves near the spine but overall didn’t look like he’d been essentially dead just one year ago. When the others began to excuse themselves once Phil began looking tired Clint stayed to clean up until Steve excused himself leaving just Strike Team Delta.

“Get in here, Hawk.” Natasha called out over the quiet sound of the TV when he was starting to run out of things to clean. Phil beckoned him to the bed and Clint gratefully let himself be pulled down to curl against the older man.

“Thought I lost you;” Phil said softly pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

“Me too,” Clint said shifting closer, “You’re not allowed to do that again.”

“Not sure I can agree not to die ever again but I’ll do my best.” Phil said with his normal mildly amused tone, it made Clint shiver to hear it after so long.

“A year, Phil;” Clint said his voice breaking.

“I know. I’m sorry it went on that long. Some of the nurses talked about the Avengers but I never heard anything about you.”

“Shield had me grounded for a while, took about six months before I was doing missions again.” Phil tugged him up for a chaste kiss while Clint fought the burning in his eyes. He tucked his face against the too narrow chest and tried to not put too much weight against his injured husband.

“We have a meeting tomorrow to decide how the team is going to deal with Fury and Shield after this.” Natasha said, “Jarvis will put it on your calendar. I’ll be in the spare bedroom if you need me. It’s good to have you back, Coulson.”

“Thank you, Natasha.” Phil said with a sad smile, glancing down at the shaking archer in his arms, “Thank you for keeping him safe for me.”

“Always, goodnight;”

“So has Tony come out with his abilities to the team yet?” Phil asked once Clint had cried himself out and they’d exchanged several more kisses.

“No, I kind of had to force the issue to get him to talk to me about it. I told Jarvis about the note in his file.”

“Good, he needs all the support he can get. We all will in the coming years, I think.”

“Says the Team Dad.” Clint said with a snort.

“If I’m the Team Dad, who’s the Mother?”

“Steve.”

“Oh, that’s just mean.” Phil said with a soft chuckle.

“You haven’t seen him in full Captain America, ‘I can fix this’ mode yet. It’s kind of scary. He’s probably going to give you the puppy dog eyes at some point for pushing yourself too hard in the gym.”

“I look forward to it.”

 

***


End file.
